"It's hard to believe that this is actually happening," said Rhineburger's sister-in-law.

"It's hard to believe that this is actually happening," said Rhineburger's sister-in-law.

Photo: Mayra Beltran

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Man's disappearance leaves another Liberty County mystery

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ROMAYOR - The day before his truck crashed into a dilapidated house in rural Liberty County and Mark Rhineburger disappeared into these thick piney woods, the welder told his brother that someone was trying to steal his work truck.

Then he canceled a Valentine's Day dinner with his former fiancée. He told her someone had tried to break into his trailer. He would call her later.

At about 5 a.m. Feb. 15, his 39th birthday, Rhineburger walked into a Crosby gas station near his home and said he was being followed. An hour later he pulled up to a Cleveland gas station, saying he had no money, was out of gas and being "chased." Around 7 a.m., sheriff's deputies say his white Chevrolet hurtled into a house near the Trinity River Bridge off FM 787. The property owners rushed to check on the driver. There wasn't one. The keys were still in the ignition.

The search for answers into Rhineburger's mysterious disappearance has involved a tense standoff with a local family, allegations that the Texas Militia is involved and a call to federal agents about explosives. Fliers about Rhineburger posted throughout the town suddenly vanished last weekend, and many residents here said they are afraid to talk.

"It's hard to believe that this is actually happening," said Rhineburger's sister-in-law, Christina Rhineburger, 41.

He is the third man to disappear under suspicious circumstances near the same area in as many months. Dennis Rogers, 54, was last heard from March 8 after telling relatives he was lost in the woods. Tipsters claimed he was a victim of foul play. In early January, the Jeep Cherokee belonging to Edwin Clark Rogers, 62, of Tarkington was found abandoned on Highway 321. His phone and medication were left inside.

Liberty County sheriff's spokesman Capt. Rex Evans said they are investigating the cases but haven't found anything to indicate they're connected.

Nevertheless, it has fueled paranoia in this remote area about 90 minutes northeast of Houston, in many parts impenetrable by thick forest.

After the standoff

On March 21, deputies received a tip that Rhineburger's possessions were inside a trailer on County Road 2134, about 10 miles from where his truck crashed. But the residents refused to come out, sparking a two-hour standoff that included a call to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to help detonate a bomb. Though it turned out not to be one, Evans said deputies found "buckets of ammunition" and are looking at whether the residents belong to the Texas Militia, and if the anti-government group is connected to Rhineburger's disappearance.

Evans said they found his jacket and cell phone near the trailer. They detained one person for questioning and arrested Joseph Brunson, 35, on an outstanding warrant for possession of a controlled substance. He is in Liberty County Jail remanded without bail.

Part of the reason deputies are investigating the group's involvement is a Feb. 14 standoff with Brunson's cousin, a self-described militia member, that occurred next-door to the trailer where Rhineburger's clothes were found.

That afternoon, deputies said Kevin Boney chased his wife outside their home, shooting at her with a high-powered rifle. She was running toward an approaching school bus carrying their two children.

Boney barricaded himself inside their home until deputies arrived. Then they said he came outside wearing a ballistic helmet and body armor and holding two semi-automatic rifles, one with a drum of ammunition affixed, which he pointed at them.

The standoff continued for more than an hour before he surrendered. Deputies said Boney yelled that he is "a warrant officer in the Texas Militia" and they had "no authority over him and he should have (expletive) killed us." They had to subdue him with chemical agents.

One theory

Inside his home, deputies found a large cache of weapons. Boney, 34, is in Liberty County Jail charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon on a public servant and family aggravated assault with a combined bail of $700,000. His attorney and wife didn't return calls.

All this leaves Rhineburger's family flummoxed: How could a man who doted on his two grandchildren, a hard worker with no criminal record, a joker with a cheeky smile and a love of country music, end up gone, his disappearance possibly linked to such a group?

"It's killing us," said his sister-in-law. "It just doesn't make any sense."

The closest they can come to an explanation is this: After Rhineburger and his fiancée broke up in November, he turned to a woman with a long criminal record.

The woman also had dated Rhineburger's boss, who lives near the trailer in Romayor.

The week before he disappeared, Rhineburger had an argument with his boss, saying the man owed him money. The night before he vanished, his family said, Rhineburger acted "real paranoid, not like himself."

The day he went missing, the woman harassed his daughter and ex-fiancée with text messages. She said Rhineburger was high when she last saw him and hoped he was "lying in an (expletive) ditch."